Sermons on Joseph Smith:

Jesus Partying Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 24, 2002

We have taken our cues about how to have fun from the wrong places. When Jesus parties, he includes rather than excludes the misfits; he goes not to participate nor to criticize, but to listen and redeem; and when you party with Jesus, you have joy and z

Suppose you gave a party and Jesus showed up! What would that do to your party? He wasn’t on the invitation list, He didn’t RSVP, but here He comes, making a beeline straight at you, with arms outstretched in greeting, and about twelve of his best buds looking eagerly at the buffet table. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:27-38

Denomination: Baptist

Strange Land, Foreign Land, Promised Land Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 1, 2002

A poetic, impressionistic rendering of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, presented by two readers in dialogue

Every day is unique, every time is new. Never before have these same things happened, never again will this moment come. But the one who made this day, the one who is ever new, knows this moment. And knew that moment in which all things would be fulfilled. Each day is a gift. And each ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 1:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Be Careful What You Pray For, You Might Get It Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 15, 2002

There are only two motives for prayer: fear and hope. If you pray and live in fear, you will live a lie and deny God, and you will become destructive. But if you pray and live in fear, you will find satisfaction and will become a life-giver.

God answers prayer. Let there be no doubt about that. God answers prayer. God responds to what His people ask. So it has often been said that you had better be careful what you pray for, because you just might get it! There is something awesome, something even dangerous about prayer. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-16, Psalm 106:15

Denomination: Baptist

Philadelphia: Que Sera Or Carpe Diem? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 5, 2003

It’s hard to go forward if we continually look back. God puts before us an open door of opportunity, but we must know that we are capable of good, and we must know our identities.

Well, let’s get this over with. New Year’s resolutions: how many of you made New Year’s resolutions? Now how many of us have already broken at least one resolution? Come on, hands up, confession is good for the soul. How many have already, five days into the new year, broken at least ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 3:7-13

Denomination: Baptist

Sardis: Alarm Bells Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 12, 2003

God is working to get our attention. Sometimes He uses alarm bells when we must respond immediately. Sometimes He uses alarm clocks to focus us on our daily disciplines. What is best, however, is the inner body clock, the inner drive to be a Kingdom pe

The greatest challenge any speaker has is to gain and to hold the attention of his audience. Speech teachers tell us that if we are going to practice anything, practice both the opening and the ending of a speech. That may be all that anyone remembers. So how does a speaker gain and ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 3:1-6

Denomination: Baptist

Deep River, Deeper Foundation

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 30, 2003

Funeral service for Flenoid Bettis, carpenter and home improvement craftsman, former chairman of the church’s Residential Properties Committee.

It seems perfectly right that Flenoid Bettis should have passed away in the month of August, the month of stormy weather. He was born on August 15, 1926, and entered eternal life on August 23 of this year. It seems perfectly right, because this is thunderstorm season, and during this season we ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:46-49

Denomination: Baptist

You Were Shaped For God's Service Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 6, 2003

Part of a series on Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life. Worship without service is idolatry; fellowship without service is self-indulgence; discipleship without service is perfectionism. Pay the price of service.

Not long ago an insurance salesman called, wanting to sell me long-term care insurance. I was tempted to tell him I had an unbeatable plan for long-term care, called heaven, but I didn’t. Not this time, anyway, because some aches and pains we had been feeling did remind us that we might actually ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

You Were Made For A Mission Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 13, 2003

One in a series on Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Life book. Our mission is to drive with others toward a destination. But between invitation and destination there is hesitation, born of diversion, dissension, and dissipation.

People who are on a mission move; people who are on a mission let nothing stop them. They are not distracted by side issues, they focus all their energies on getting their mission accomplished. People who are on a mission do whatever it takes to get to their goal. But people who are not on a ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 22:16-21

Denomination: Baptist

Promises To Keep Before I Sleep Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 18, 2003

As young people we make many naive promises, which are diluted by the demands of the day. But God sends people to intervene with the truth, so that at the end we are able to praise Him for the grace that helps us feel some degree of fulfillment.

The shouts of today are so loud that I do not hear the echoes of yesterday, nor do I listen to the faint whispers of tomorrow. All I really know is what is clamoring in my ear right here, right now. That makes me lose perspective. The shouts of today are so insistently loud that I do not hear ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 1:1-48

Denomination: Baptist

I Shall Never See The Greatest Tree

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 20, 2003

For World Communion Sunday: Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom is large, but the weakness of the church makes it unlikely we shall see it fulfilled. Yet we must affirm the small beginnings that are being made, even by us, for they have potential, when they are

So how do you feel about trees? Did Hurricane Isabel change your feelings about living in a city of trees? When some of them fell on the power lines and cut you off – our house was out for six whole days – how did you feel about trees? I didn’t ask you how you felt about Pepco. That’s another ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 12:31-32

Denomination: Baptist

Thrashing Threshing Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 22, 2003

In an attempt to give meaning to our lives, we "thrash" -- do something impulsive that has to be acknowledged as sin and has inescapable consequences. But as we confess our sin God "threshes" us, dividing the positive from the negative, so that we recove

The longer we live, the more we have to be thankful for. Isn’t that true? The longer we live, the more blessings we receive, and therefore the more we have to be thankful for. If you are thirty years old, you can count your blessings, name them one by one. If you are sixty years old, you can ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 24:10-35

Denomination: Baptist

I Have The Keys Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 1, 2003

For All Saints/All Souls: the Lord has the keys to the church, so we need not fear its future despite our locking up its resources; and He has the keys to our lives, so we need not lock ourselves in privacy; and He has the keys of eternal life.

Keys. I have keys. Lots and lots of keys. Thanks to keys, we can keep safe the things we consider valuable. But we are also kept from access to those things. Keys; we all have them, we all need them, we all appreciate them, but we all resent them at times. If you don’t have the right keys, ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 1:4-18

Denomination: Baptist

Listening To I Am Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 6, 2003

Listening to ourselves is also listening to God. If we listen in availability, God will respond in our own history. If we listen for responsibility, God will offer His presence.

There come those times in life when we do not trust what we have heard. Something is said, our ears pick it up, but we don’t quite trust it. We don’t know whether we really heard what we thought we heard. Or we don’t know whether to believe what we heard. Or maybe we don’t trust the speaker. Or, ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 3:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

Listening For Freedom Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 6, 2003

We fear freedom for reasons both internal and external -- "broken spirit and cruel slavery". Choose to be a liberator for someone else and you can break that slavery.

We are made to be free; in fact, we need freedom. Every person needs freedom. That’s obvious. That’s what God has made us for. The Scripture says, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” We say we want to be free. We want to be free. But therein lies a problem. The problem is that that’s not ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 6:1-13

Denomination: Baptist

Listening For Leadership Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 6, 2003

Our view of leadership is that it is aggressive, know-it-all. But in reality it is bearing witness to God’s power, not our own; and leaders are qualified to be leaders by what they do NOT know.

Do you know the story of the woman who liked to sit for an hour or so every evening at her front window? She would just sit, looking at the traffic racing by. After the children had been coached through their homework, after her husband had been reminded about the jobs on his "To do" list; after ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 19:1-9

Denomination: Baptist